I've got the Meade Autostar (#497) connected to my EQ5 mount. It's taken me a little work to get to where I am. One of the two motors I attached was "skipping" internally. But I had a spare and it seems to not have that problem. It took a while to align the drive wheels so all turned smoothly. Then I had the Dec motor colliding with the Dec clutch lever. Built a new version of the lever allowing sufficient clearance. The RA drive seems to counteract the earth's rotation quite well. I can slew the scope well in Dec and RA.
So now, to alignment.
I cannot get anything like reasonable alignment.
I think it knows that it is on a GEM rather than a Alt/Azi, or a polar aligned fork mount, but I'm not absolutely sure.
The manual I have been working from is:-
http://www.meade.com/manuals/Telesco...497english.pdf
which is a bit sparse on information. I also notice that my 497 has a few more menu options than this manual lists. I have set date and time right and location to Melbourne (yes, in Australia - close enough).
It gives me four options for align - "Easy", "One Star", "Two Star" and "Three Star". I've tried the first three. It starts with me pointing to the polar home position and it says "German South". So I'm hoping that means that it thinks I have a GEM pointing at the SCP.
Then I select ACRUX - It slews somewhat close and I centre it and press enter, then I choose Sirius. It slews to vaguely that general direction (within about 20 deg!!) and I centre and press enter. It says it is happy but gives me some strange directions to the pole. If I tell it to goto ACRUX it sets off on a wild chase.
OK, I'm missing something here. Can anyone with experience of an Autostar on an EQ5 tell me, so I can slap my forehead and go away and fix it.
Thanks
Eric